Evaluation of an experiment in a driving school - "Drive net profit - save energy and environment"

Panel: Panel 2: Programme Evaluation

Author:
Saara Pekkarinen, Dept. of Economics, University of Oulu

Abstract

The paper discusses a framework for studying effects of a driving school project when the teaching material includes a new package on driving a car economically and in a fuel efficient way. The aim is to examine the eventual changes in attitudes and behaviour towards more efficient use of the car. The pupils were split into two groups, of which only the experimental group was offered the new teaching package. The teaching package consists of a short theoretical , lesson, and concrete advice during driving practice. An identical inquiry, measuring attitudinal factors and intentions towards fuel efficient car use, was carried out before and after the driving school. A follow-up study might be carried out in late spring 1995 to investigate possible differences in fuel consumption between the experiment and control groups of driving school pupils.

MIMIC-models (i.e. models with multiple indicators and multiple causes) are used to describe relationships between unobservable attitudes towards fuel efficient car use, observable indicators of attitudes, and exogenous causal variables. The 1 - 4 point scaled responses measure the latent attitudes and intended demand for fuel efficient driving habits. The two-wave MIMIC-model makes it possible to model the relationship between attitudes before and after the driving school. The teaching of fuel efficient car use is assumed to change attitudes and encourage new drivers to drive fuel efficiently and thus reduce average fuel consumption. If this is true, it would be a gpod public investment to include the new training package in an appropriate part of instructIons in all driving schools.